The present invention is directed toward treatment of tachyarrhythmias, which are heart rhythms in which one or more chambers of the heart exhibit an excessively fast rhythm. In particular, the present invention is directed toward treatment of tachycardias, which are due to the presence of ectopic foci within the cardiac tissue or due to the presence of aberrant condition pathways within the cardiac tissue.
There are many medical treatments that involve instances of cutting, ablating, coagulating, destroying, or otherwise changing the physiological properties of tissue. These techniques can be used beneficially to change the electrophysiological properties of tissue. For example, ablation of cardiac tissue can be used to cure various cardiac conditions. Normal sinus rhythm of the heart begins with the sinoatrial node (or “SA node”) generating a depolarization wave front. The impulse causes adjacent myocardial tissue cells in the atria to depolarize, which in turn causes adjacent myocardial tissue cells to depolarize. The depolarization propagates across the atria, causing the atria to contract and empty blood from the atria into the ventricles. The impulse is next delivered via the atrioventricular node (or “AV node”) and the bundle of HIS (or “HIS bundle”) to myocardial tissue cells of the ventricles. The depolarization of these cells propagates across the ventricles, causing the ventricles to contract. This conduction system results in the described, organized sequence of myocardial contraction leading to a normal heartbeat.
Sometimes aberrant conductive pathways develop in heart tissue, which disrupt the normal path of depolarization events. For example, anatomical obstacles in the atria or ventricles can disrupt the normal propagation of electrical impulses. These anatomical obstacles (called “conduction blocks”) can cause the electrical impulse to degenerate into several circular wavelets that circulate about the obstacles. These wavelets, called “reentry circuits,” disrupt the normal activation of the atria or ventricles.
The aberrant conductive pathways create abnormal, irregular, and sometimes life-threatening heart rhythms, called arrhythmias. An arrhythmia can take place in the atria, for example, as in atrial tachycardia, atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter. The arrhythmia can also take place in the ventricle, for example, as in ventricular tachycardia.
The lesions used to treat atrial fibrillation, are typically long and thin and are carefully placed to interrupt the conduction routes of the most common reentry circuits. More specifically, the long thin lesions are used to create a maze pattern that creates a convoluted path for electrical propagation within the left and right atria. The lesions direct the electrical impulse from the SA node along a specified route through all regions of both atria, causing uniform contraction required for normal atrial transport function. The lesions finally direct the impulse to the AV node to activate the ventricles, restoring normal atrioventricular synchrony. Several surgical approaches have been developed with the intention of treating atrial fibrillation. One particular example is known as the “maze procedure,” as is disclosed by Cox, J L et al. in “The surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation. I. Summary” Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 101(3), pp. 402-405 (1991); and also by Cox, J L in “The surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation. IV. Surgical Technique”, Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 101(4), pp. 584-592 (1991), both of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. In general, the “maze” procedure is designed to relieve atrial arrhythmia by restoring effective atrial systole and sinus node control through a prescribed pattern of incisions about the tissue wall. In the early clinical experiences reported, the “maze” procedure included surgical incisions in both the right and the left atrial chambers. However, more recent reports predict that the surgical “maze” procedure may be substantially efficacious when performed only in the left atrium, such as is disclosed in Sueda et al., “Simple Left Atrial Procedure for Chronic Atrial Fibrillation Associated With Mitral Valve Disease” (1996), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
When modifying the electrophysiological properties of cardiac tissue by ablation, or by other means of destroying tissue to create lesions, physicians must carefully place the lesions. Otherwise, tissue will be unnecessarily destroyed. In addition, the heart is in close proximity to nerves and other nervous tissue and the destruction of this tissue will result in severe harm to the patient. Anatomical methods are used to locate the areas to be ablated or otherwise modified. In other words, the physician locates key structures such as the mitral valve annulus and the pulmonary veins. Lesions are typically formed that block propagations near these structures. Additional lesions are then formed which connect these lesions and complete the so-called “maze pattern.” However, the exact lesion pattern, and number of lesions created, can vary from patient to patient.
The surgical “maze procedure” as performed in the left atrium generally includes forming vertical incisions from the two superior pulmonary veins and terminating in the region of the mitral valve annulus, traversing the inferior pulmonary veins en route. An additional horizontal line also connects the superior ends of the two vertical incisions. Thus, the atrial wall region bordered by the pulmonary vein ostia is isolated from the other atrial tissue. In this process, the mechanical sectioning of atrial tissue eliminates the precipitating conduction to the atrial arrhythmia by creating conduction blocks within the aberrant electrical conduction pathways.
Injection of alcohol into heart tissue has also been employed to ablate cardiac tissue. Alcohol may be delivered to blood vessels supplying the tissue to be ablated, as described in “Transcoronary Chemical Ablation of Arrhythmias”, by Nellens et al, Pace Vol. 15, pages 1368-1373, September 1992. Alternatively, alcohol can be delivered directly to the tissue to be ablated by means of a needle inserted through a catheter, as described in “Chemical Ablation by Subendocardial Injection of Ethanol via Catheter—Preliminary Results in the Pig Heart”, by Weismuller et al, European Heart Journal, Volume 12, pages 1234-1239, 1991.
Although successful at treating AF, the surgical maze procedure is quite complex and is currently performed by only a few skilled cardiac surgeons in conjunction with other open-heart procedures. Tools that could reliably duplicate the Maze incisions by other means (e.g. radio frequency, laser, microwave, ultrasound energy) will reduce the time and invasiveness required for the maze procedure and make it more accessible to more surgeons. Problems faced by these methods, however, include (a) the creation of continuous, linear lesions in the atria for the prevention of atrial fibrillation, (b) minimization of clotting and thromboembolism, (c) the effect of heat loss due to circulating blood, (d) minimization of lesion width and minimization of atrial debulking, (e) conforming to an irregular myocardial thickness, (f) adaptability to a variety of lesion geometries and (g) usefulness from either the endocardial surface of an open heart, or the epicardial surface of a beating heart.
One particular procedure, the monopolar RF ablation of cardiac atrial tissue to treat atrial fibrillation, causes wide, shallow lesions, due to current dispersion through the tissue. In heavily tribiculated tissue, monopolar ablation is only feasible endocardially. An epicardial approach using conventional methods will not efficiently transfer energy into the deep tissue folds, due to that tissue being out of the conductive path between the external epicardial electrode and the remote indifferent electrode. Bipolar hemostats have been used to concentrate the current through a direct tissue path between closely spaced electrodes to provide improved ablation through smooth or heavily tribiculated tissue. However, the bipolar hemostats require significant tissue cutting to provide complete access to necessary lesion sites.
Some tissue cutting is required in a Maze procedure. In particular, the atrial appendages are typically removed. Monopolar RF cardiac ablation requires significant additional tissue cutting in order to position the electrode in the proper positions to perform endocardial ablations.
What would be desirable are methods that would reduce tissue cutting and improve the efficacy of epicardial ablation. What would be advantageous are devices that direct RF current along the desired transmural path, creating narrower and deeper lesions.